Posted by MummyMania.
Yesterday a close friend of my husband's died.
Just like that.
He was 39, funny, caring, outrageous, and kind. He leaves behind a shattered wife, and the two loves of his life - aged 3 and 18 months. Yesterday, in a moment of freak accident, as his snowboard careered off the edge of a mountain in brilliant sunshine and glorious surroundings, their young lives changed forever. His exuberance for life was only matched by his adoration of his girls - girls that will now grow up without him to hold their hands, to dance in puddles, to shout "Daddy, Daddy" when they find a ladybird in the garden.
I know his wife, his many many friends, and his family will make sure those beautiful girls grow up surrounded by the best memories of their dad they can offer. And despite my lack of religious belief, I know - because it can be no other way - that he will walk beside them every step of their young lives.
Last night my husband broke down as we went in to check on our own girls. so precious. So beautiful. So needing of us. So let's cherish them. Let all of us who have them, cherish them.
Lets make sure we hold their hands, dance in puddles and chase ladybirds in the garden. We must, not only because we can, but because we owe it to those who can't.
5 comments:
This is absolutely heartbreaking. I'm so sorry for your and your husband's loss, as well as that of his family.
My father also died when I was young (after a divorce though) and my family didn't bring him up much after that. I didn't know how to talk about him.
Surrounding those girls with memories of their father will be so important.
Life is so fragile and so quickly taken away, this post makes me hug my family closer. I will remember to dance, chase, and live. I'm so sorry for your loss. Your words will remind those who take everything for granted to live in the present.
Right in the gut, that one. I lost my dad at 16, but was saying to a friend just the other day how hard it would be for my two (4.5 and 21 months) to comprehend the loss of their father. Thanks for this, it's a good reminder.
Unfortunately this post hit a lot of painful memories for me...actually, non-memories as my dad died suddenly when I was just 5 years old. My three older siblings remember him, but I don't -- except a few fuzzy flashes of him from the knees down (hey, he was tall and I was, well, 5).
I hope the family and friends this man left behind will keep his memory alive for his girls but also allow them to move ahead in whatever the world holds for them in his absence and not be "frozen" in his memory and "what could have been" had he lived. It's a difficult balance - one I think my family failed in. In the meantime, just love one another.
I cannot even fathom what this man's family is going through. It is every wife's nightmare.
One of my coworkers, after accepting best reporter of the year, literally dropped dead from an unknown heart condition at the awards ceremony in front of the staff. He was in his early 30s and left behind a wife and two young children. I will never forget their faces at his funeral.
But as the mother of a 2-year-old, and sister-in-law to a woman who lost her father at a young age, I can't help but feel some gut reaction anger at the man from this post. It's hard enough to leave the house every day knowing you could get hit by a car -- why would you put your life more in jeopardy by mountain snowboarding when you have two young children at home?
I know that will make some angry, and I cannot justify my thoughts outside of my own life experience. I also fully admit I do not know the exact details of the man's death. This is just a snippet of instant emotion after reading about this horrible tragedy.
Our family's thoughts are with his loved ones. Thank you for a reminder to cherish our families on Family Day in light of this awful event.
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